Lost faith in new BP deployant and strap: would appreciate advice

Greetings chaps!

In April - or thereabouts - I took delivery of a brand new Big Pilot (5009) from my local AD. As I wanted it on a brown strap, I ordered the brown version of the same exotic (croc, I think) that came with the watch. After wearing the original black strap for a couple of weeks, the new strap arrived. So I took the watch to the local AD to have the straps swapped. During the process of removing the original black strap from the deployant, the AD's watchmaker literally snapped the deployant pin that keeps the deployant attached to the strap. He apologized and immediately replaced it with the deployant of another 5009 from the shop floor, and mounted that deployant on the new brown strap. To me, the deployants looked identical except that I noticed that the protective tape on the new deployant was yellow vs. the blue that came with mine. Anyway, the new strap was on, and I walked out of the store happy.

The very next day I noticed that the strap was loose. Specifically, the deployant pin wasn't seated firmly in the strap hole, and so it was precariously easy to have the strap separate completely from the deployant while removing it. Nearly dropped the watch as a result. I've had plenty of deployant watches in the past, but never one as flimsy as this one. Not knowing whether it was a strap or deployant issue, I promptly took both back to the dealer, who confirmed the strap appeared to fit loosely and who replaced the strap with an identical brown croc.

Fast forward a couple of months later, and I now have the same exact figment issue. The brown strap was never seated as firmly as the black one that came with the watch, but it did seem reasonably snug when I walked out the store. However, after a couple of months the strap has softened and the deployant holes have obviously become a tiny bit larger. So much so that I risk dropping the watch every time I take it off. While I will say that I think the deployant design is pretty awful (IWC could learn a lot from how Panerai engineers their deployant to fit into straps), I suspect the bigger issue is the strap itself. So, I'm about to give up on the strap and deployant altogether. I'd be incredibly upset if I dropped the watch due to the flawed craftsmanship of the strap or deployant. I'll admit that I thought about taking the watch to Home Depot where I might be able to buy a tiny washer that I could insert over the pin head to keep the deployant firmly seated, but then I realized that such a solution on a watch in this price-range would be pretty darned stupid (though it would fix the engineering issue!).

So, onto my questions.

1. Has anyone mounted a regular pin/tang buckle to their Big Pilot? I think some versions come with such a buckle, but can't find specifics. I'd like to move away from the deployant altogether, and will "happily" throw away the poorly constructed 400-500 dollar strap for some peace of mind!

2. Does anyone know the size of a BP tang/pin buckle? Is it 18, 20 or 22mm? I suppose the answer depends on whether the regular buckle straps taper to 18mm like the 5009.

3. Does anyone know, by any chance, what the largest and chunkiest looking pin/tang buckle would be offered by IWC - at or below 22mm? I'm not worried about it fitting an OEM strap - I'll gladly go non-OEM. (My croc strap has darkened considerably in places - presumably to sweat; I haven't experienced that with other strap - so suspect non-IWC custom straps will be a much better bet for me).

I will state that other than the strap and deployant issue, the watch has been terrific. I really do like the watch itself!

Odd.. The deployant/strap on my Big Pilot 5004 has been perfect ... I wear it frequently in rotation for the 3 years and nearly wore it every day for a year without issue..

Maybe the 5004 and 5009 deployant are different?

Try an image search for "IWC pin buckle" and you may find something you like. An AD might be better help and could order one for you. Your 5009 is 22mm at the lugs but for your pin buckle you'll obviously want the strap dimensions.

Thanks chaps. As far as I've read, IWC did "improve" the deployant from the 5004 to 5009, but as my 5009 deployant isn't working for me - either that or the brown strap is flawed - I can't attest to the deployant working well.

I'll go the pin buckle and aftermarket strap route, I think. I have a 49 euro strap that came with my 45mm Laco a while back. While that entire watch costs almost the same as a new IWC strap, its cheap strap is fantastic: a very novel approach to pilot straps that I cannot adequately explain: it's neither a pin/tang buckle or deployant - it's almost both wrapped into one. And while the strap isn't exotic, it's supple and doesn't absorb sweat like the IWC. It's also 22mm at the lugs, so I might just put that cheap strap on the IWC.

So, there are the watches themselves on the one side, and the straps with the pin buckles or the deployant clasps, or the bracelets on the other side. Although fantasizing about changing the combination watch/strap I never did such a thing, I kept the whole like it was initially delivered. In the end I found straps etc. not important enough, except that their quality should be OK, which they always were. Implicitly I loathed the issues that could occur, as NHS156 describes them: they ahouldn't happen of course, but they sometimes do.

While the watch in itself will be under the quality control organization of IWC, I wonder whether this is true in the same extent for straps, bracelets and their closing mechanisms: they are probably outsourced to specialized suppliers. There are external supplier for dials and hands too (and some movements, not to forget), but where their quality is very important for the functioning of the watch, this is not the case for the straps etc. Still, the perfect fit between strap and deployant clasp is very important here, and far more critical for the safety of the watch than is the case with pin buckles. Maybe someone can shed some light on the quality control of straps and their deployant clasp. In the end, to the customer IWC is responsible for their quality.

I have a few deployant clasps for leather straps, the original combinations. They perform flawlessly. But to me the pin buckle construction is the favourite, the wearing comfort is higher: simple and light is better. This construction may be more damaging to the strap, but that is only the case when one bends the strap sharply backwards when putting the watch on and off the wrist. I don't do that, I press the buckle into the soft flesh of my wrist: mother nature here is much more flexible and forgiving than dead material.

Kind regards,
Paul

Paul - I cannot comment on IWC's quality control as it relates to straps/buckles, but will suggest that the original black strap that comes with the 5009 fits better/tighter/more snugly than the supposedly identical brown version I bought. The black model seems thicker where it attaches to the deployant, which makes the overall "fit" safer. So, on the surface and to my amateur eye, the straps are not identical although they appear to be on paper (with the exception of color). Perhaps that's a QC issue...

I also realized that not all deployant buckles are created equal. I visited my AD today to partly examine a new deployment on a 5009 vs the one I currently have mine (remember I was suspicious as my replacement deployant was wrapped in yellow vs blue protective tape). Sure enough, the salesperson and I immediately noticed 3 differences:
- the IWC logo was thicker on the new buckle vs mine
- the stamped/engraved markings on the back were different - I can't remember the specifics, but just that they were different
- the new deployant had a curve to it in one place that mine did not

So I questioned whether I had in fact been given a pre-5009 deployant. They don't believe this was the case, but were going to check with IWC to try to understand why two deployants for the same model were truly different. It might be a case of the dealer making an honest mistake and giving me an older replacement deployant thinking it was identical to the new/improved model. Not sure yet.

While there, though, I did order a 22mm pin buckle, primarily for peace of mind. An added benefit will be a much better fit (as you point out) - deployants always fit a bit too loose, in my opinion. And yes, the strap will wear a little faster, but that's a trade off I'll gladly make for a more secure and comfortable fit.

You may find that the strap is wrong-sized in length with the regular buckle (I always was taught to call them tang buckles rather than pin buckles). The reason for this is one end of the strap is shorter with IWC's deployant buckles, so the buckle seats in the middle of the wrist. With a tang buckle on a strap sized for a deployant, you may find the buckle askew and the entire strap slightly uncomfortable.

Michael - I'm throwing out the brown deployant strap as soon as I get the tang buckle. I'll be adding an aftermarket strap made for tang buckles to replace the OEM strap. In other words, I'll be sure to match the tang buckle with an appropriate strap!

Your post did get me curious though.... Could it be that the brown strap my dealer sold me was actually designed for a tang buckle? I just checked, and the answer appears to be "no". The brown and black OEM straps appear to be identical length-wise, though the black one does look and feel marginally thicker. But only marginally. I've come to the conclusion that the issue may simply be that the strap material itself is too soft - so the holes for the deployant pin widen very quickly and easily. The problem is amplified by the tiny head on the deployant pin - doesn't make for a secure combination. A tang buckle is definitely the way to go!

Hi,

I am using both the original black & brown crocs & calf strap respectively with my 5009 with the yellow sticker you have mentioned. But, I do not experience such problem.

I am just wondering after you have adjusted the deployant pin to desire hole of your strap and putting onto your wrist, did you clip on firmly the buckle of the deployant (the one with the IWC logo)? You can feel a clip by doing so. That will safely keep your watch onto your wrist.

The 5009 has a thicker buckle and the thinner one you had previously is for the 5004. It has been improved to ease the unclipping of the buckle as compare to before.

Fleekk: thanks for your thoughts. A couple of things:

1. The deployant that came with my watch (with the blue protective stickers) was for the 5009 (as that is my watch); the watch was special ordered from IWC by my dealer and was brand new from Switzerland. The deployant the AD gave me after breaking the original deployant, was the one with the yellow stickers. So I am 100% comfortable that the broken deployant was the "new" type deployant. I'm not sure about the one I have now - which appears to be the same as yours, judging by the yellow sticker. Perhaps they're both for the 5009 and simply made by 2 separate entities - as they're clearly not the same deployant.

2. Yes, I ensure the pin in the deployant is pressed through the hole in the strap. That is the only point of friction between the strap and deployant, and so very necessary. The problem is that the combination of oversized strap holes and/or undersized pin head on the deployant results in the deployant separating from the strap at the lightest touch. That's why I'm giving up on the IWC deployant altogether and going with a traditional pin buckle.